It all started with a letter in The Times

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The pressure group Index on Censorship marks its 40th anniversary this year. Its founding was assisted by this newspaper

The perils of opposing orthodoxy are a constant of history. As Voltaire wrote
to Diderot in 1758: “We are compelled to lie, and then we are still
persecuted for not having lied enough.” There is, however, a voice prepared
to insist on the right of free expression for heretics. It is Index on
Censorship, a pressure group that marks its 40th anniversary this year and
whose founding was assisted by The Times.

In 1967 this newspaper published a long appeal by Pavel Litvinov, a Soviet
dissident. His article drew attention to the plight of three Russians on
trial for supporting